


Guild Work

by TheAmazingOntos



Series: Change [18]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: Magic Revealed, Mild Language, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:21:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28731879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAmazingOntos/pseuds/TheAmazingOntos
Summary: I do a "simple" job for the Guild. Also, river spirits.
Series: Change [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960861





	Guild Work

"Vergil, I want to know if you're interested in a job. It's a small one, but it doesn't pay much, or I'd have one of our members do it. I know you're short on money, and you'd be doing me a favor by handling it. Anyway, call me back or drop by the Guildhall if you're interested. End of message. To replay this message, press..." my voicemail plays again, as I try to decide whether or not I should do this. 

I don't have anything against the Guild, not even their slow response to the rising demand for their services from people who need it to survive. The urban environment has provided a whole new crop of supernatural predators a hunting ground, and concentrations of prey like they've never experienced before. Now, every building needs to be warded inside and out, against creatures both ancient and modern who may or may not belong to any specific pantheon. The only things that have kept humanity away from extinction in Trinidad and Tobago are the Ministry and the Guild.

As I said, I have nothing against the Guild. I used to be a union representative once upon a time, so I don't even have a problem with the Guild charging a tithe on my jobs from them. I'm hesitant about the wording of the message, and Raj sounded a little too unconcerned about it. It sounds like it's a situation that his people refused, and he's trying to dump on me. But people might be in danger, and I've believed "No one left behind" for the last two decades, so I have to help. 

\-----

"I'm glad you came. It's a simple job, but I don't have anyone I can spare for the recovery period afterwards. All you have to do is affix a protective ward around one of the greenhouses that the Sisters use for their potion ingredients. They grow nightshade, wolfsbane and yarrow in grave dirt in there, so they'll need a sanctified bubble, instead of the normal wards we use in residential areas. A priest already blessed the seal you'll be installing, you just need to add your blood to it to activate the enchantment. It pays five grand after Guild charges, including the sign up fee. Can you help me out here?" Raj asks, as he paces his cluttered office in the Guildhall. He avoids eye contact, which is unlike him, and has me even more concerned about the job.

"I'll take the job, if you give me all the details. You're holding something back, and I'm not sure what it is. Might even be something that could get me killed, and that's no good for either of us," I say, standing up and moving towards the door. If he's as desperate to get this done as I think, he'll tell me what I need to know. 

"Alright, I'll tell you. The greenhouses have been attacked by something in the reservoir. It attacks mostly at night, and nobody can agree on what it is. All we know right now is short and green. But that's going to stop once you put in the seal, so you don't need to worry. I have faith in you, because you're good," he says, thinking that flattery will work on me.

It doesn't. "You're going to add in a full set of rotary tools, like the ones you used to make this seal, deliverable to a location of my choosing. Consider it hazard pay. And you're never going to try chaining me up to do a job again, or I'll raise the prices according to how annoyed I get. Now, where's the driver to go out there?"

"No driver, nobody wants to stay that far, not with something dangerous out there. You can use a horse from the stable, it'll get you there just as fast, consideringthe roads. Keep it after, as a gift," he tells me, with a hand on my shoulder, trying to guide me out of the door. 

"Price just went up by ten kilos of orichalcum. I told you not to try gaslighting me. All of it to go to Jade's garage, the big Rastaman. Everybody knows him. Have the driver tell him it's mine when it gets there," I say around a big grin. I've tripled my pay on this job before I've even left the Guildhall, and it's stuff I actually need.

\-----

The Sisters of Mercy began as a group of nuns, of all people, who accepted their magical abilities, mostly hydromancers, and began using them to help the sick and injured. Other hydromancers joined them, and the nuns without magic themselves began brewing potions. The Sisters are now the fourth largest aid organization worldwide, and the second most recognizable, after the Red Cross.

After exchanging pleasantries, I ask to go to the greenhouse complex. I've been working on the seal during my ride over, and I've managed to clean up their magic-by-committee mess of an enchantment. All I need to do now is hang it, activate it and leave.

"My dear boy, can I ask how strong the enchantment is? We've been having problems with what seems to be a local water spirit, and I want to be sure that it'll keep the crops safe. People depend on the potions that come from these houses," Sister Clement asks. Picture a grandmother, old and stooped, with a face full of wrinkles. That's the opposite of what Sister Clement looks like. Her hair is still mostly black, with iron grey liberally streaked through. Her face is weathered and lined, but it refuses to show her age, and the piercing eyes and large nose suggest that it would be a bad idea to ask. She stands upright, walks briskly and mother hens almost everyone she meets.

I instinctively trust her, and I decide to be honest. "The ward will work for most everything. The only things that it won't stop are Genius Loci, because they're spirits of the land itself, and anything divine in nature. That means that if it's a protector spirit, or even a Fallen Angel, it'll just walk through, because they originated from the divine. It shouldn't be a problem, because there's a caveat built in that prevents anything supernatural from causing harm while under it's cover," I mention, while searching for the best spot to take advantage of it's range. Eventually, I pick a place near to the water, and I go to work putting in a post to hang the seal from. 

Fifteen minutes later, the post is firmly planted and I'm about to activate the enchantment, when I get the feeling of being watched by something intelligent. It's a different sensation to being watched by a dog or a bird, and it's unmistakable once you are aware of it. I mentally track around, checking back to where I could be watched from, and realize that it's not anybody from the farm. The sight lines are all wrong, and the sensation has settled as coming from the riverbank. 

I'm start turning when a small green creature steps through the bushes to my left and hisses threateningly. It's only about four feet tall, mottled green, with a froglike face and a depression full of water in the top of it's head. I finish my turn and immediately bow deeply to it. The kappa returns my bow, emptying the water out of it's head, and becomes paralyzed. The next thing I do is grab the nun, to keep her from braining it with a posthole digger.

"Greetings, honored kappa. My name is Vergil and this is Sister Clement. We will restore you, if you are willing to meet with us to find a way to stop these attacks. It is unnecessary for us to quarrel if a compromise can be found. Unfortunately, we only speak English, so we also ask that you bear with us," I address the creature with my most respectful tone.

"I agree, we should discuss the situation causing our attacks. My name is Shiroe and I can commit my clan to the terms we agree to. Now, if you would be so kind as to pour some water into the top of my head, that we may begin," Shiroe (the little green creature, a kappa) says in a voice reminiscent of rocks rolling down a streambed.

\-----

"It is agreed, then. The greenhouses will stop letting excess fertilizer into the water, and provide your clan with a bushel of cucumbers each month. In exchange, your clan will help protect them, and save any children who may be drowning. If the quality of the water drops, you both will meet before dissolving this agreement. If there are no other points of interest, you both may sign the contract," I say, and both sides sign, ending the random attacks on this stretch of water. 

"Why cucumbers?" Sister Clement whispers, while trying not to look too confused.

"I don't know why kappa like cucumbers, but they do. So, we buy their support for cheap for you all with them. Personally, I don't much care for cucumbers," I whisper back, keeping my face just as serious as I can. "Anyway, my job is done, and I just need a signature. Can you do that? I don't want to get caught on the roads at night."

Ten minutes later, I'm back on my horse, and the open road beckons. All in a day's work.


End file.
